People stand outside the Metropolitan Cathedral in Campinas, Brazil, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018. A man opened fire in the cathedral, killing four and leaving four others injured, before taking a bullet in the ribs in a firefight with police and then shooting himself in the head, authorities said. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

Gunman kills 4, then himself, after Mass at Brazil cathedral

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RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A man opened fire in a cathedral in southern Brazil after Mass on Tuesday, killing four people and wounding four more before taking a bullet in the ribs in a firefight with police and then shooting himself in the head, authorities said.

The shooting happened right after the midday service had ended at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Campinas, a city about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of Sao Paulo.

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Denny Cesare/AP

A firefighter walks next to a victim killed at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Campinas, Brazil, Tuesday, Dec.11, 2018. Authorities say an armed man entered the cathedral in southern Brazil on Tuesday afternoon and opened fire, killing at least four people before killing himself. (Denny Cesare/Futura Press via AP)

Denny Cesare/AP

AP

In this frame grab taken from a security camera provided by Campinas City Hall, two people shot by a gunman lie wounded at the entrance of the Metropolitan Cathedral, in Campinas, Brazil, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018. A man opened fire inside the cathedral in southern Brazil after Mass on Tuesday, killing four and leaving others injured before turning a gun on himself, authorities said. (Campinas City Hall via AP)

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VICTOR R. CAIVANO/AP

Police remove the body of a shooting victim from the Metropolitan Cathedral in Campinas, Brazil, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018. A man opened fire in the cathedral after Mass on Tuesday, killing four and leaving four others injured before taking a bullet in the ribs in a firefight with police and then shooting himself in the head, according to authorities. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

VICTOR R. CAIVANO/AP

VICTOR R. CAIVANO/AP

People stand outside the Metropolitan Cathedral in Campinas, Brazil, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018. A man opened fire in the cathedral, killing four and leaving four others injured, before taking a bullet in the ribs in a firefight with police and then shooting himself in the head, authorities said. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

VICTOR R. CAIVANO/AP

Victor R. Caivano/AP

People walk outside the Metropolitan Cathedral after a fatal shooting in Campinas, Brazil, Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2018. A man opened fire in the cathedral in southern Brazil after Mass on Tuesday, killing four and leaving four others injured before taking a bullet in the ribs in a firefight with police and then shooting himself in the head, authorities said. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

Victor R. Caivano/AP

"It's so sad," said Wilson Cassante, a press officer with the archdiocese. "It's hard to imagine the pain this has caused."

Hours after paramedics were seen taking bodies and injured out of the church, authorities identified the shooter as 49-year-old Euler Fernando Grandolpho from Valinhos, a nearby city in the densely populated state of Sao Paulo.

Grandolpho, a systems analyst, was not a member of the church, authorities said. According to public records, he had held various jobs with government entities, including a stint as an assistant to the prosecutor in the public ministry in Sao Paulo.

Authorities said they had not determined a motive. A backpack found near the dead gunman had his identification but no note or other clues, police investigator Jose Henrique Ventura told reporters outside the church.

"Thanks to the intervention of police, something much bigger was avoided," Ventura said, adding that the four injured were in stable condition.

Danielle Coutinho told EPTV that she was sitting in the church chatting after Mass when gunfire began. A man sitting close to her was shot as she and others ran.

"I saw people getting shot. I can't get it out of my head," she said in tears. "It was horrible."

Brazil has long struggled with gun violence, and is routinely the world leader in total homicides, though mass shootings are rare. Last year, nearly 64,000 people were killed. President-elect Jair Bolsonaro, a former army captain, campaigned on promises to crack down on violence, in part by loosening gun laws so more civilians could arm themselves.